Community Colleges are not stepping stones blog 15

“Those students who went straight to a four-year institution straight out of high school had an 80% completion rate of a four year degree. Students who went to a community college had only a 3.3% completion rate of a four-year degree” (Cabrera 1).

Community colleges are not acting as the stepping stone model for four year institutions because those students transferring from community college to four year institutions seem to fail because they are not prepared. Community colleges seem to be aiding people more into "falling into the river" rather than providing students with support to succeed. Due to the way our society uses fiction such as the media to be a 'truthfull' source of information it perceives community colleges as the place to go but in reality they dont save you money and dont prepare you for your future. Money is not being saved because many students wind up failing courses and having to stay extra years at the university which,in the end, costs them what they saved or even more. Because of community colleges open admissions policy any student is allowed to enter which holds back certain students from learning because teachers have to compensate for the different learning abilities of all their students.

Basile, Elizabeth Anne. A Longitudinal Study of Reverse Transfer Students and the Second Chance Function of the Community College. 2004. Print.

Bourke, Brian, Claire H. Major, and Michael S. Harris. "Images of Fictional Community College Students." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 33.1 (2009): 55-69.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

Cejda, Brent D., Nancy Hensel, and Council on Undergraduate Research. Undergraduate
Research at Community Colleges. Washington, D.C: Council on Undergraduate Research, 2009. Print.

Cohen, Arthur M., and Florence B. Brawer. The American Community College. 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008. Print.

Comparing the Academic Progress of Native and Transfer Students for the Fall 2002.
Cohort Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning. http://oirap.rutgers.edu/reports/MSA2008/Self-Study-Reports/transfer-report.pdf.

Diamond, Robin. Dean of Transfer Students. Livingston. Personal Interview.

Floyd, Deborah L., and Laura Antczak. "Reflections on Community College Research."
Community College Journal of Research & Practice 34.1/2 (2010): 1-6. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.

Goeller, Michael. Personal interview.

Kirst, Michael W., and Andrea Venezia. From High School to College: Improving Opportunities for Success in Postsecondary Education. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Print.

Khoshtinat, Danielle. Personal interview.

Lanman, Sandra.ARTSYS eases way for community college transfer students. September 8,2000.http://ur.rutgers.edu/focus/article/ARTSYS%20eases%20way%20for%20community%20college%20transfer%20students/164/.

Laanan, Frankie Santos. Transfer Students : Trends and Issues. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Print.

Mellow, Gail Minding the Dream : The Process and Practice of the American Community
College O'Connor, and Cynthia M. Heelan.Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008. Print.

Olzsewki, Kayla. Personal Interview.

"Recently Completed Dissertations on Community and Junior Colleges." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 33.1 (2009): 82-84. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

Transfer Students Success Guide. Rutgers.edu. http://sasundergrad.rutgers.edu/academics/current/transfer/successguide.html.

Treat, Tod. "Evaluating Learning Outcomes in an International Professional Development Program." Community College Journal of Research & Practice 34.1/2 (2010): 111-135. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.

blog 14

Over the course of the semester my project has evolved into a solid side. In the beginning i believed that community colleges were the right path to take because of the way they were advertised and perceived to be places to go that would better your standings and guide you to the college experience. After much research i believe that the fact that community college acting as a stepping stone to four year institutions is false. There are many different aspects that validate my side of the argument. Some examples are, the fact that students are not prepared when they transfer from a community college to a 4 year institution, the fact that in the end it does not save you money because you wind up having to stay longer at the 4 year college because you fail classes and have to stay extra time in the university, also if the credits you take do not transfer you have to make up for them by taking more classes and you have already paid for some. The thing that influenced me most was the statistics of the success rate of students who succeed when having transferred from community college to four year institutions. I learned that in order to succeed in the research process you have to dedicate a lot of time into the topic and make sure that what you are doing interests you.

The truth behing success

The blog would not let me upload my graph that i created, but it is a graph that shows the fact that of those students who attend community college and transfer to a four year school only 3.3% complete a degree and of those students who go right to a four year institution from high school 80% complete a 4 year degree.

This image is extremely significant because it demonstrates how those students who transfer are not prepared for what is ahead of them. It proves the point that commnunity colleges are not acting as a stepping stone for students transfering to four year institutions, but are more or less preparing them to fail. It demonstrates how community colleges are really not the best path to take because in the end the money you save is paying for the extra credits you have to take because you fail and the school is not setting you up for the future.